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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Every now and again I have to de-web the food lockers. When doing it a week or so ago, all of a sudden there was a swarm of spiders trying to get out as fast as they could and I got out of the way as fast as I could. When I got to the next locker that had the ball of spiders, (now I know what to look for and not freak out) I was able to get pictures. First one is the nest, second is of one of the spiders and third is when I disturbed them. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. One of these days I’ll try to post a video of something.

Not too much has been happening here in the park. When cleaning campsites I came across a couple of rattlesnakes. This one was just sunning himself on one of the curbs in one of our popular sites. I called maintenance and Jeremy and Ruben teamed up to encourge it to go elsewhere. Since it was midweek and we weren’t busy they didn’t capture and relocate. Then at the beginning of the weekend, I found another one in the other CG that seemed to maybe sick as it didn’t respond even though it was alive. Jeremy came to the rescue and captured it and did relocate this one. He thinks that since it was early in the morning, that it just hadn’t warmed up yet. Either way I’m not messing with any snakes.

Thank you to the Snake Wranglers of Grant Co. Park

These are the only reptiles that I deal with. Frogs and Lizards.

Last week I noticed that there was something dripping from under the coach. It seemed to be water but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. We did have a bit of rain overnight, but that wasn’t it. Jeremy, (in maintenance) came over and checked under the kitchen sink, but it was dry under there. So we decided to wait, Ted was coming for a visit. It took him all of 3 minutes to determine what the problem was. Sunday we took a ride to Camping world and picked up a replacement shower faucet and some silicone caulk at Home Depot. It turned out that it was a leaking faucet and the shower pan had a crack in it where it came together with the shower walls. He was also able to widen a slot in the drain so that he could use a mini drain snake to clean out a bunch of “gunk” including hair from before I had the MH. So far that seems to have solved the problem.

I’m so glad that Ted is around to help me out. Thank You Ted!!!!

I finally broke down and turned on the AC. I hope that you all are staying cool and enjoying the summer. August will soon be behind us.

Thanks for visiting

I got to go for a ride with Ted. He took me to PetSmart where I got a bath and my nails clipped and ground. He says I smell better and I feel better. It’s so dusty riding around in Mom’s little truck.

Monday, July 28, 2014

That’s Ranger Lisa holding up a skull, on the table are more with other things to identify various animals that the hikers can possibly see on their hike.

First things first. She helped the hikers ready their flashlights before leaving by putting red cellophane over the lights. That way they were more likely to see animals not frightened by the brighter lights.

Below are some of the pelts that they could touch. Can you guess what everything is?

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8

While everyone took off down one of the trails, I headed home to bed. The moon in all it’s brilliance just outside my door.

Good night Mister Moon.

Thanks for visiting

Mom said I could tell you what those things are,

1. deer antler, they lose them every year. 2. deer skin 3. bobcat 4. skunk 5. raccoon 6. coyote 7. rabbit, the softest of all. and 8. that’s a mountain lion over Mom’s right arm and shoulder with the tail hanging down on the left to her waist, compared to the bobcat on her left arm. That’s one kitty that I don’t want to meet.

Monday, July 14, 2014

During one of my rounds around the CGs, I was stopped by one of the campers wanting to know if I could rescue an Acorn Woodpecker that was stuck in the gate post (picture on left). I couldn’t even see the bottom of the 6 or 8 inch pipe. I went on the rescue mission to find something that it could climb out on, but by the time I got back one of the campers rigged up his own rescue device and scooped it out. I flew up into a tree, rested and flew off before I got back. Sorry, I didn’t get a picture, here’s one off the internet.

The 4th of July weekend was busy.

The girls below came over to pet Angel while the boys in the family played soccer in the street. After they left Angel sat watching them play and “talked” to their dog from the deck.

As they were leaving, they found this baby, They thought it was a baby squirrel, but I think that it is a vole. After they left I released it near where the found it. I hope that it found it’s way home.

On that Saturday evening Ranger Theresa had a “Campfire” presentation of Predators and Prey where she brought out animal skulls and pelts and then finished just in time for the attendees to see the bats come out of the Bat Houses. That’s what is on those poles.

There is usually a mass exodus on Sunday and when I was cleaning the campsites, I was treated to this chalk artwork. It’s still there. Those that take that site also enjoy it.

One my day off I decided to find out about the leaking transmission fluid. In addition to replacing the gasket for that pan, they discovered this. They replaced my left front axel. I sure am glad they found that, especially with me going up and down Quimby Hill Road.

Last Saturday, many of the campers were awakened by this. about 7:30 there was a very loud craaaaaakk. That large branch fell and took out the smaller tree. It fell in the driveway of two campsites. My little cart is parked in the site next to it. They may have to call in a tree service, because the bigger tree is cracked farther down into the trunk.

That evening, Ranger Lisa led campers on a Full Moon Hike to see what animals come out at night. There were about 120 people that showed up for the presentation. She brought out the animal skulls and pelts along with models of paw prints and scat. I helped her by taking some of the pelts around so more people could feel them. That’s a Mountain Lion around my shoulders and a Bobcat on my left arm. Angel didn’t know what to make of them.

Full Moon rising in the East taken from my site. I didn’t go on the hike. I needed to get up early to clean restrooms.

The weather has been great up on the mountain, usually several degrees cooler than down in the Santa Clara Valley. Once in a while there will be fog in the morning, but it burns off within a couple of hours. We’re enjoying this gig. Yes, Angel gets excited every time she sees me get ready to go to work. She can’t wait to get into her harness, so that she can ride with me in her own seatbelt.

If you’re ever in the area stop by to see this park. It’s a hidden Gem.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

It begins with preparation, a lot of preparation. It was about a week before the event that these fellows set up their camp near the staging area down in the Day Use Area. and of course there are no showers in those restrooms so they had to come up into the regular CG for that. I got to know a little about them and the event. There would be 2700 participants expected for the event on Saturday. The entrance fees go towards “Talk About Curing Autism”. Those fees could be anywhere from $40.00 (registering early up to a year in advance) to $100.00 for later entries (even to the day before the event).

There were 17 obstacles over the entire course ( a 6K race).

One of these is a Mud Pit. Oh what fun! (not for me)

Of course there was a looong line of Port a Potties.It was a large staging area. I had to get away across the Day Use Area get most of it in a picture.

They had Live Music throughout the day. One of my campers wasn’t happy being awaken by the loud music. Oh well, people were advised on the website when they made reservations.

Below are some of the obstacles.

This is the Polar Bear Plunge. It was near the end of the race and must have been refreshing as they had to go under a bar in the middle. A little farther along was the Dead Man’s Carry. Where the flags are one racer would carry his/her partner and half way, they would switch. The one on the left shows them doing it, viewed from one of the campsites.

There were a lot more along the course. Most of the pictures were taken before or after the actual race. I had to stay up in the CG to control the restrooms as they were LOCKED during the race. That was 6 hours and there were quite a few unhappy campers, so I got the OK to monitor the RRs. I let everyone know that they had to remain locked, however if they needed to use them, I would come and unlock them as needed. That worked out very well. I only had to walk down the hill to the RRs about 11 or 12 times. I definitely got my exercise that day.

This is why the RRs were locked. Some of the participants were campers and we couldn’t have all that mud blocking the plumbing.

A couple more obstacles. I think the first one has something to do with the mud pit.and the other, I have no idea what that one is.

We are all glad that it is over. I’m rather glad that I wasn’t down there in and among the INSANITY. It was a good event and benefited a good cause. They will probably be back next year again. The crew was here cleaning up until Monday. Here it is a week later and there is still a bit of equipment that hasn’t been picked up yet, but I’m sure that will be gone soon.

So that is the story of one of the events that take place here in a county park. I’m sure there will be others, Weddings are popular. We will just wait for the next one.